Danbury Hospital New Milford Hospital

SPR 2013

Spirit of Women magazine is a national publication presented to women by hospitals and their physicians. The magazine provides up-to-date, evidence-based healthcare information and promotes our hospitals as leaders in women's health excellence.

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T
he numbers speak for themselves: As many as 97 percent of us will suffer from
neck and back pain at some
point during our lives, and
80 percent of us will seek treatment
for it, according to Dr. Farhan Siddiqi,
who is chief of the Division of Surgery
at Trinity Spine Center in Odessa, Fla.
For most people, noninvasive treatments such as losing weight, strengthening muscles and quitting smoking
(steps that also are likely to improve
your overall health) will do the trick.
But even when more advanced treatment is called for, you may still have
a number of options besides surgery,
say physicians.
SIZING UP THE SITUATION
No matter what kind of neck or back
pain you're suffering from, it's important to be evaluated by a spine surgeon, who will use imaging technology such as MRI to better pinpoint
the source of the problem. Sometimes
what appears to be back pain, for
example, may actually be hip pain,
explains Dr. Siddiqi, who is affiliated
with Medical Center of Trinity in New
Port Richey, Fla.
"If it is hip arthritis and we treat the
back, then it will not help," he says.
For the majority of patients, a
course of medications to lessen pain,
in combination with physical therapy
to strengthen muscles, stress reduction
and weight loss, can be effective.
"We do not need you to be a gym
rat," says Dr. David R. Blatt, director of
neurosurgery at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colo. "But things
like Pilates, things that patients do on a
regular basis to strengthen their core,
can prevent a lot of back problems."
In fact, even the most serious back
problems can be headed off if caught
!
Serious
symptoms
It's time to seek immediate
medical attention if your back or
neck pain also includes:
•
•
•
•
Signifcant weakness
Changes in bladder function
Inability to walk
Changes in your ability
to balance
early enough, say experts. For most
people, education is an important part
of that process. Your physician may
ask you to start writing down exactly
when you experience pain, what you
were doing at the time, whether the
pain is sharp or dull and how long
it takes to get relief. This information
can help the spine surgeon or other
medical professional tailor a treatment
plan geared to you.
NEXT STEPS
If you and your doctor decide that stronger medicine is called for, you may
want to try nonsurgical options that are
more invasive than physical therapy
or medication but less invasive than
surgery. Treatments such as epidural
injections, using a combination of steroids and painkillers, can reduce pain
enough to allow you to get back into
rehab and continue physical therapy
and other noninvasive treatments.
When these types of treatments
don't bring relief, your spine surgeon
may ultimately recommend surgery. If
you have severe pain or other symptoms that interfere with your everyday
activities and mobility, and you rely
on painkillers on a regular basis, you
may be a candidate for surgery.
The good news is that even surgery is
much less invasive than it used to be. In
general, explains Dr. Siddiqi, surgeons
now can repair the spine rather than
having to reconstruct it, which means
they can avoid large incisions. This results
in drastic reductions in the time needed
for recovery.
Often a patient can be walking
around within a day of surgery and
be back to normal activity levels in
two to three weeks.
Disc replacements are minimally invasive surgeries and tend to work well
for younger patients as an alternative
to fusing discs to decrease back pain,
says Dr. Blatt. In addition, computer
navigation—using a camera in the surgical procedure—has made the disc
replacement process safer and less
invasive as well. •
5
noninvasive ways
to treat back and
neck pain
1. Appropriate pain medication
2. Physical therapy to strengthen
muscles
3. Weight-loss programs
4. Stress reduction
5. Quitting smoking
SHUTTERSTOCK
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